Some thoughts on tuning snare drums

I've been tuning snares a little differently lately. Dunnett says to find the fundamental note of the shell and tune the bottom head to that note. My Vaughncraft steam bent birdseye maple with nickle over brass hardware,(die-cast hoops), positively sings now. Great for New Orleans stylee. I tuned the top head medium high to get a nice bounce to the stick and a timbale like ring with rim shots. I leave the snares as loose as possible so as to not choke the resonant head. My latest Kent shelled drums benefit from this tuning as well. If resonance is the quest for a drum then Dunnett's idea makes sense, get the shell and heads all working together. Finding the note of my shells is a little tricky, so many overtones, but by hanging them up and using my knuckle to rap lightly and using a tuner, I've been able to find the note. I'm writing it in the shell.
   Drum tuning is endlessly fascinating, the slightest changes in tension can make all the difference.
   The biggest surprise lately was a 5x14 Kent orange sparkle six lug shell, given to me by my buddy Anthony from The Village Drum and Music. I was going to peel off the wrap but decided not to because I do love orange sparkle and it cleaned up really well. So I recut the very messed up bearing edges and finished them, all by hand (My shop was too cold). I had to remove alot of meat, 3/16, from each edge. It looked like someone had at them with a jackknife! I ended up using a double 45 edge instead of the usual roundover. After putting on some lugs, hoops, throw and butt with some old heads, I tuned it and wow, it sounded great, strong and tight, not too tinny and weak like my other Kents without re-rings. Why I'm not sure, maybe the different edges, maybe it's just the maple in this drum. Every piece of wood is slightly different.
   Another old Kent shell is in the pipeline, this one another 5x14 six lug that I removed the wrap from and bunged all the holes. Jack Moore gave me this one. I'd fixed it up and never really liked it very much. So now I'll try it with eight lugs and maybe fool with the bearing edges, but no re-rings for now. Alot of scraping and sanding finally got rid of the wrap glue residue and I stained the shell with a blue green analine die with some red oil color rubbed in to funk it up a bit. I've discovered the joys of french polish this winter. Just shellac, alcohol and a little olive oil, gives a rich deep glossy to semi-gloss finish which brings out the wood grain like nothing else. You rub it in over a couple of coats of shellac, slowly building up the finish, in sessions, with a days drying in between sessions. The smells are pleasent unlike most finishes. After awhile I've got this beautiful finish that only needs protecting with some wax.
   Snare drum sound can be so allusive, very subjective and constantly changing, with room accoustics, weather and my mood! Small changes in the relationship of the heads, can greatly affect the sound. Mid range tuning is usually the best but some styles dictate a higher or lower tuning. For funk, I like to tune up, for blues, down.

Vaughan Craft maple shell with old Ludwig hardwareAdd

60's Kent shellAdd